Top Ten Worst Characters of FiM, Version 2 · 3:41am Oct 24th, 2019
There are some characters that even after Season 9 I just don't get the intent behind them or think they just ultimately failed to manage properly. Characters that I have to wonder why they were ever included because they just aren't enjoyable or memorable. This can even go to some "Love to hate" villains if they way overdid it or did something that couldn't possibly benefit them in any way, shape, or form. You know the drill by now. Here's the previous version, from just after Season 8, let's see what changed.
10. Flim and Flam
Why they moved down: Seeing them show up in the final battle was odd but I guess they can fall into the level of pragmatic villains. At least unlike Filthy Rich I can see why they were used to villify big business and corporations. But they still had no reason to be antagonists. They started out peddling a legitimate product and the Apples were the ones who rejected the offer to work together, so Flim and Flam naturally did what anyone would do and even said "If you refuse our offer than we'll just have to be competitors." Had they just gotten rid of the bad barrels after the contest was over they would've won. But from there they just kept falling further and further: Peddling a fake tonic to con innocent ponies out of their bits, running a fraudulent university just to expand their business, and tricking ponies into buying a cheap, poorly made doll while lying about the supply (I'm pretty sure that's some kind of extortion or false advertising). All the while they keep doing the same routine of disguises or singing and dancing, and yet nopony ever recognizes them or passes word along that they're not to be trusted. "Viva Las Pegasus" should've been the last time they appeared, they had a legitimate business at that point and could actually put their conning ways to use without getting in the way of the mane six. They were just lazy antagonists reused way too often when we could've had the return of much better one off antagonists (if Lightning Dust could make a comeback why not Suri Polomare or Wind Rider?).
9. Svengallop
Why he was added: What ultimately moved him onto the list this time for me is that "The Mane Attraction" had Countess Coloratura tell Applejack that Svengallop would know better than to pull her from the charity concert, rightfully claiming such a move would destroy her image and thus her career. So why on earth would Svengallop knowingly sabotage his own client when he made it sound like he was the one who made her a big star? I know a lot of famous musicians have had falling outs with their managers and felt like they've been unfairly cheated or robbed, and Svengallop is a reference to an old work where an agent with a similar name manages a young girl to the point where she collapses and dies on stage during a performance. Obviously they had to work around that, but they didn't have make him not only so blantantly evil (could he at least "pretend" to appreciate his client for stuff other than what he added to her performance?) but also stupid. I honestly think he should have been fired like the original draft called for. If he was going to basically commit career suicide on his client's behalf, he deserved to be blacklisted.
8. Spoiled Rich
Why she stayed the same: There are people who wanted to see her be reformed (though I wasn't one of them), and considering we got unwanted redemptions for characters like Ahuizotl and Garble why in the world did they not grant to a villain people actually wanted? Me personally, I would've been onboard with a partial redemption if it meant Diamond Tiara got more to do. Have Spoiled go back to how she was as Spoiled Milk where she at least could seem to act concerned and didn't make it so obvious she thinks everyone else is beneath her. Give us insight as to why she thinks the way she does, maybe she had a similar upbringing to Diamond Tiara in that her mother treated her poorly and she became a nasty pony because of it? You know, do something that explains why she hung around, why Filthy Rich didn't divorce her, and why Starlight would ever ask her to try out for the role of vice headmare.
7. Principal Abacus Cinch
Why she moved down: Even if it wasn't stated directly it's perfectly clear that by the time of "Dance Magic" she's been fired, as she rightfully should have been. As an antagonist she was effective up until the climax of "Friendship Games", they nailed the "Love to hate" character with her perfectly, and it's easy to see how she at least contributed to the toxic culture within Crystal Prep. However, not only is she not even the slightest bit concerned for the safety of her students, but she rejects Principal Celestia's idea to call off the games when Equestrian magic makes them unsafe. Then, despite knowing Sci-Twi can't control the magic, she decides that because Canterlot High might "cheat" during the tie breaker challenge, she orders Sci-Twi to open the amulet and use the stolen magic anyway. And when it all goes south because of it she immediately bails, leaving her students to fend for themselves against a monster she helped unleash.
6. Zesty Gourmand
Why she moved up: I don't know what's worse, that she's a strawman critic in a show that was usually good at listening to criticism and learning from it, or that Rarity felt this was a critic worth listening to even when her standards were absolutely terrible. Rarity knows that the rated restaurants were bad, but she thinks the only way The Tasty Treat will survive is if it pleases Zesty and becomes what Zesty wants to see. Any "critic" that accepts that doesn't deserve the label of a critic, critics shouldn't be forcing consent, critics shouldn't be applauding or demanding adherence to bad standards. A real critic would want to see a restaurant survive on its own merits, not because it's like everything else and is thus devoid of any personality. The worst part is that even when she's confronted over how bad her standards are, she refuses to change her ways and acts as if the very idea that ponies might try something without her say so is a bad idea. Pinkie Pie and Rarity are right, Zesty can't tell ponies what to enjoy anymore than they can.
5. Chancellor Neighsay
Why he moved down: His cameo in "The Ending of the End" where he was shielding unicorns within Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns and helping lead the charge against the Legion of Doom was nice. But it can only go so far to make up for how badly he was mishandled in Season 8. His actions almost provoked an international war and nearly irreparably damaged Equestria's alliances it had worked so hard to build up and maintain. But as far as I know he was never held accountable for this even though in real life it seems like nowadays it only takes one slip of the tongue to get you into trouble (or even fired). It was clear that he only approved of Flim and Flam's school because it would be a rival school to Twilight's, he didn't really care about conducting an actual investigation to see if the school met EEA standards and was basically using his position to rubber stamp what he wanted. And when Twilight and the others left for Tartarus and Starlight was imprisoned, he decided that he was perfectly entitled to just take over a non-EEA school without authority and start running it the way he wanted to. Yet after he got deposed by Cozy Glow that was it, he just suddenly sees the error of his ways when the student six rescue him, and then he just leaves. He never apologizes or fesses up to what he did, not even the wrongful imprisonment of the students (even though one of them was a pony). And keep in mind that he did all of this willingly, Cozy Glow didn't tell him to do anything and neither was he in cahoots with her. I do get the sense that he learned his lesson by the end of Season 9, but that still is a case of "Show, don't tell".
4. Grubber
Why he moved down: I still don't get why he exists in the movie, he's not even really a henchman to Tempest (who is already basically playing "The Dragon" to the Storm King), there's only one scene where she ever lashes out at him. And the only scene he's relevant for is one that could've been given to a random goon and nothing would've been lost. I know a lot of his lines were improvised, but Tabitha St. Germain apparently does that quite often with Rarity and she makes it natural and relevant. Just because you can improvise doesn't mean you should, and even then it can only do so much if the character isn't memorable or enjoyable. And Grubber's inclusion just undercuts any tension Tempest's actions are meant to carry. I'm not sure if there were plans for him in the movie that never materialized, or whether he would've come back for the planned sequel that became "Rainbow Roadtrip". But I don't find him funny, I just find him derailing.
3. Reformed Trixie and Discord
Why they were added: Of all the reformed villains we got in the show these two are bar none the worst! Their actual redemption arcs ended up being completely crippled by bad writing decisions and repetitive scenarios where both ultimately never moved past what they were when they started out. For Trixie she never materialized past what Discord described her as, and Discord himself ultimately never moved past being a jerk and a poorly developed trickster mentor to Twilight who more often than not messed with her just because he could. Both always acted like smug snakes with something to hide and seemed oblivious or blind to what their actions were causing to others. Heck, both of them acted like toxic friends to Starlight with the former never taking Starlight Glimmer's concerns even the least bit seriously, and the latter intentionally provoking Starlight to make her doubt herself. It's a shame because they most definitely didn't start out that way, they started out flawed and like Starlight they didn't always act selfless. But after Season 6 saw them do heroic things they just never again rose to that level and seemed to in fact regress. Both seemed to rely on someone else to basically get them out of trouble. If I had to pick one who was worse though, it would go to Discord by a hair. As bad as Trixie was, at least I get the sense in the end she maybe learned her lesson (too little too late, but hey better late than never). Discord though, the last big act we saw from him was bringing back past evils to "help" Twilight gain confidence to be supreme ruler. Not only did he not think his plan would ever backfire even when things like the Tree of Harmony's destruction or sending the Legion of Doom to retrieve the actual bewitching bell of Grogar came up, but he insisted over and over again that he thought it was a good idea. And then he basically stabbed the three in the back while himself avoiding punishment for enabling them to be so powerful in the first place. It's a shame too because they had a much better plan in mind for the Grogar twist, but like with "Toy Story 4" they second guessed themselves and ended up making the wrong call.
2. Cozy Glow
Why she moved up: All it would've taken to fix everything was offer some kind of explanation as to why she's so evil and why she as a child gets the kind of punishment adults who did similar or worse things than her didn't get. Or maybe she should've never actually been a child villain in the first place if her being a child is what made no sense. It feels like they didn't think Chancellor Neighsay could work as a big villain, and they didn't want to reuse Chrysalis or Tirek despite ultimately tossing them into Season 8 anyways, so they decided on a child villain and that was it. We got no further insights into her character in Season 9, in fact it seemed like she actually did get friendship in her own twisted way. But for whatever reason everyone just assumed she was a lost cause. She was meant to be the threat you didn't see coming, yet ultimately her inclusion among the major villains just made no sense at all.
1. Sludge
Why he stayed on the top: There is nothing to like about this character, and I mean nothing! All he is is a fat, lazy, selfish slob who Spike is dumb enough to believe even when his story has so many holes in it. He doesn't face any consequences for what he does, and his entire episode and existence was just meant to be a giant middle finger to anyone who ever cared about Spike's origins. It was nice that "Sparkle's Seven" gave him Twilight's family as his adopted parents, but that can only go so far to make up for not knowing how his egg ended up in Equestria. Sludge didn't give us that sort of stuff with Spike, and hardly anyone expected him to. Making him actually be Spike's father (or even something like a long lost uncle) could've given him something of a point, even if it was just "Spike's birth family is sucky, he's better off not knowing about 'em!". But if this was really the only "answers" they were going to give on Spike's origin they might as well have not even tried.
And there you have it, come back tomorrow when we'll look at the Top Twenty Worst Opening Sequences of FiM.
Agreed. About grubber, i wondered what his fate was
5144665 The end credits suggest he was reformed.
5144668
Could be. Just Wondered given his Final apperence in the Movie.
Here's my list:
1. Spoiled Rich
2. Flim and Flam
3. Svengallop
4. Blueblood
5. Sludge
6. Vignette
7. Jet Set and Upper Crust
8. Gladmane
9. Suri Polomare
10. Zephyr Breeze
Zephyr was pretty much added onto the list in hindsight.
He was okay in Flutter Brutter, but his reappearance in Sparkle's Seven guaranteed his place here.
His crush on Dash is by far his worst trait, and the fact that it was pretty much the only thing on display in that episode exacerbated the issue.
5144673 I gotta agree. I know it's because of Ashliegh's idea to have Rainbow Dash dress up, but did they really have to do it in such a cringe inducing way?
5144678
I wouldn't have minded it as much if it at least ended with Zephyr finally taking the hint, but they couldn't even do that.
I personally found grubber funny, and I would remove reformed discord from this list, he ahs no reason to be here in my eyes, but other than that, I mostly agree
I don't agree with any of these.